Breakdown of Его тариф на пять процентов дешевле, он значительно сэкономил.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
его
him / it (acc)
пять
five
процент
percent
Questions & Answers about Его тариф на пять процентов дешевле, он значительно сэкономил.
How does the phrase на пять процентов work with дешевле?
To express the exact difference in a comparison (cheaper by five percent), Russian uses the preposition на followed by the Accusative case of the quantity, then the comparative word. Here, на pairs with the Accusative number пять to show exactly how much cheaper the rate is.
Why is the word for percent written as процентов?
After the number пять (five), nouns must take the Genitive plural form. The nominative singular is процент, so its Genitive plural becomes процентов. If the rate were cheaper by two percent, you would use the Genitive singular instead: на два процента.
Could I use the long-form comparative adjective более дешёвый here?
Yes, you could say Его тариф на пять процентов более дешёвый, but the short comparative form дешевле is much more natural and common in everyday speech when describing a subject like this.
Why is the perfective verb сэкономил used here instead of the imperfective экономил?
The perfective сэкономил highlights the concrete result of his choice: he successfully achieved the savings. If you used the imperfective экономил, it would mean he was in the ongoing process of saving money, rather than focusing on the completed fact that he got a cheaper rate.